Chapter 848: A Dark World Native Comes Knocking and the Asymmetric Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow Plant Factor Set!

Inside the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, Locke fell into contemplation before Madam Tataroni. Should he restart the Ladder and begin the fifth round?

Locke said, "How long does the fifth round of the Ladder allow for task completion?"

Madam Tataroni curved the corner of her mouth and gave Locke an elegant bow, her silver dragon half-dragon tail rising. "Ten years."

"Spiritual Resonance studies is extraordinarily complex, and Second Circle potions are even more so. As such, each test allows ten years."

Locke said, "Can you tell me the subject of the fifth round of the Ladder test?"

Madam Tataroni's eyes showed hesitation.

"Lord Augustine, I very much wish to help someone of your magnificent bloodline. But the Ladder test is the very foundation of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. That alone I cannot make exceptions for. However, you still retain the one-time privilege of forcing a stop midway and restarting a round of the Ladder test."

"Only from the fifth round onward, you may use this privilege just once in total."

Locke nodded.

"Understood."

Locke said, "I will participate."

This was a decision he had reached after careful deliberation.

Although if things went badly and he failed to pass the Ladder test at the end, he would lose this channel for rapidly obtaining potion studies resources. But the question was, with ten years given, did he really lack the confidence to pass the fifth round?

On top of that, the many benefits of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion also only appeared as accompanying services after the Ladder was activated. If he delayed starting the Ladder until later, and had no quality potion studies inheritance in hand in the meantime, he would simply be wasting time.

And he did have the confidence to pass the Ladder test.

First, he had the Synthesis Cube.

Second, he had the Potion Reverse Refinement studies given to him by King Otto, he had the Bronze Cauldron, which could refine the Zero Potion and accumulate his perception of Spiritual Resonance, rapidly improving his Spirit Perception, what could be called Spirit Knowledge.

So-called Spirit Knowledge was one's perceptive sensitivity toward Spiritual Resonance.

For others, ten years might be far too short. But for himself, it should not be a problem.

From another angle, if he remained unable to become a Second Circle potion wizard for an extended period, he should give up potion studies. Otherwise it might interfere with his track as a top-tier genius of the wizard world.

Locke said, "Very well, Madam Tataroni. I will begin the Ladder test."

Madam Tataroni bowed to Locke. "Please excuse me, Lord Augustine."

She suddenly extended toward Locke her palm, which was covered in silver dragon scales. Magical power appeared across her five fingers, then threads of magical power ignited like flames, transforming into blue fire.

These blue flames intertwined with one another, forming threads of flame, which then encircled Locke as they rotated.

Soon, a drop of emerald-green liquid appeared among these threads of flame.

Locke's eyes shifted slightly.

"You extracted the Spiritual Resonance from my name?"

Madam Tataroni collected that emerald-green liquid in a time gold crystal potion vial, then recited a spell and summoned behind herself an enormous cauldron.

The cauldron appeared both real and illusory, like something out of a dream. It seemed to be located within a palace, an ornate palace with carved beams and painted rafters, possessing an aesthetic entirely unlike that of the modern magical era, and adorned with many totems of feathered serpents.

Madam Tataroni dropped that single emerald-green spiritual drop into the cauldron.

Locke watched this scene, his expression flickering.

'That is correct. She extracted the Spiritual Resonance from my name. I had not expected Second Circle potion studies to have developed to this extent, actually being able to extract Spiritual Resonance from my own name.'

'The problem is minor, however. Spiritual Resonance is simply the hidden true form of all things. Her extracting Spiritual Resonance from my name has no effect on me personally.'

'Only, refining a potion from another person's name is truly remarkable beyond words.'

At that moment, Madam Tataroni breathed somewhat heavily, appearing quite tired.

She bowed to Locke, then raised her head to explain: "According to the regulations, beginning from the fifth round of the Ladder test, you are required to pour the Name Potion into our Feathered Serpent Pavilion's Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart."

"This ensures that you have only participated in the Ladder once in your lifetime, and guarantees that no matter what happens, you can only participate once in your current life. The fairness of the Ladder test going forward will be protected by the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart."

Locke's gaze tightened slightly. The Feathered Serpent's Heart?

Why would a cauldron be called the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart?

Was this simply a name?

No. For a Second Circle potion wizard, they could directly extract Spiritual Resonance from another person's name and use techniques to refine it into a Name Potion, then use the Name Potion to verify a person's participant identity.

So for the higher-circle potion wizards of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, the name given to an object would certainly not have been chosen at random.

Because within a name, there is inherently Spiritual Resonance.

And this point Locke had learned precisely from watching the other party refine the Name Potion before him.

Locke asked directly, "Why is this called the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart? Is this truly the heart of the Feathered Serpent Ancestor? Or a cauldron made from the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's heart?"

Madam Tataroni smiled without speaking, and elegantly shook her head slightly.

"Regarding this point, the regulations above prevent me from disclosing it to you."

Locke nodded.

"Understood."

Being unable to say anything was itself a form of information being transmitted.

Inside the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart cauldron behind Madam Tataroni, a burst of potion flame suddenly erupted. Within the flame, a sheet of paper appeared, drifting down into Locke's hand.

Madam Tataroni said, "What you see is what constitutes the content of the fifth round of the Ladder test."

The palace and cauldron behind her both began to disappear.

Locke looked at the paper. The sender's name at the bottom was the Omnipotent Engine, which appeared to be the name of that cauldron.

The Feathered Serpent Pavilion was truly mysterious.

It seemed that beginning from the fifth round of the Ladder test, the one setting the questions for him was no longer the Feathered Serpent Pavilion's upper hierarchy, but the Omnipotent Engine, or the Feathered Serpent Ancestor's Heart, or the existence behind that cauldron magical artifact.

The magic pressure of that cauldron magical artifact itself was enormous to an unimaginable degree. Locke could not determine what rank of magical artifact it was at all, and could only sense a boundless total magic pressure and magic pressure intensity with no visible edges.

Locke looked at the content on the paper.

"Within ten years, master the following two potions: the Clone Potion and the Archangel Potion."

"Only one set of Clone Potion materials and one set of Archangel Potion materials will be provided. The Primordial Fire may be used, or any other auxiliary magical artifacts or special forces."

Locke showed a contemplative expression.

The requirement from the other party...

He had already learned the first potion, the Soul Stabilizing Potion, which was also the simplest Second Circle potion.

The Clone Potion was far more complex than the Soul Stabilizing Potion. So although he had obtained the Dual Cicada Spiritual Resonance, he had not yet mastered the Clone Potion. And the Archangel Potion, even among Second Circle potions, was considered a relatively complex ordinary Second Circle potion.

If he passed this round of the Ladder, it would be equivalent to becoming a Second Circle potion wizard.

In other words, this round of the Ladder test did not fundamentally require him to refine just two potions. Rather, it required him to become a Second Circle potion wizard in the most orthodox manner possible.

Because the criteria for a Second Circle potion wizard passing the examination was to refine three different Second Circle potions on the spot. This meant a potion wizard could pass the examination by learning three of the simplest potions.

But now that he had started the fifth round of the Ladder test, it meant he had to pass the Second Circle potion studies examination using potions of three different difficulty levels: simple, ordinary, and complex.

Fair and square.

Not a single shortcut taken.

This was also the examination method students of the older generation of potion wizards would use.

So fundamentally, this fifth round of the Ladder test required him to pass the Second Circle potion wizard examination without taking shortcuts, with a ten-year time limit.

Locke said, "Understood. Give me the materials."

Madam Tataroni immediately rang a magical bronze bell, summoning servants to retrieve the two sets of potion materials.

"Lord Augustine, once I have obtained the consent of that master-level potion wizard and extended an invitation, I will contact you. Please await my good news."

Locke gave a slight nod.

"Thank you."

After taking the materials, he immediately left the Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

At the same time, Locke threw himself into a new round of flying magical plant development.

This time, he could clearly sense within the Dune Plane that the magical tide concentration gradient imported by Research Group Two's laboratory from the wizard world had risen considerably, producing corresponding changes in the mutation and growth cycles of magical plants.

"An unexpected influence."

Locke looked at the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow subspecies rapid-growth strain before him. The rapid-growth strain was swaying continuously in the magical wind. Despite being merely a rapid-growth strain, it had actually begun to summon magical wind.

One month later, after another ten million magic stones had been invested.

Locke stood within the sword tomb. Behind him in the underground floor ten of Research Group Two's laboratory stood Douglas, Witch Mason, and two others, observing the situation.

Locke raised his right hand. A magical force field appeared, and instantly countless lights from throughout underground floor ten converged toward his right hand.

The magical force field a Second Circle wizard could deploy was enormous to an unimaginable degree, like a magnetic pole of the earth element in and of itself, blanketing the entire laboratory.

One after another, plant factors that had been selected long in advance were excised by his magical force field, then fell toward the sphere of energy in his hand. The plant factors combined continuously within this emerald-green energy sphere.

According to the finite element cultivation method, these plant factors rich in advantages were rearranged and recombined, in the hope of producing a Second Circle level Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

But Locke knew this step alone was not enough.

The gap between First Circle and Second Circle was simply too enormous.

So the traditional finite element cultivation method was no longer capable of forcing the growth of a Second Circle magical plant through the finite element excision method's approach.

He therefore added three super plant factors into the mix once more.

These were super plant factors he had obtained over another full month of work using many portions of Emerald Spirit Breath.

They were, respectively:

The 3x Type 2 Feather-Fall Super Plant Factor,

The 2x T-Type Gibberellin Secretion Super Plant Factor,

and the Big Leaf Maple Asymmetric Spiral Leaf Super Plant Factor.

Together these formed a plant factor combination Locke named the Asymmetric Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow Plant Factor Set.

He had specifically adjusted the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow phytogen combination cultivated through the finite element cultivation method to accommodate this set of plant factors.

Simply put, this set of super plant factors formed a mutually complementary relationship. The side effect of the 3x Type 2 Feather-Fall Super Plant Factor was that it caused the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow plant to shrink in size. The 2x T-Type Gibberellin Secretion Super Plant Factor allowed the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow to secrete twice the normal amount of T-Type gibberellin.

The most notable effect of gibberellin was promoting plant growth and causing cell elongation.

It had a remarkable effect on banana-type plants.

T-Type gibberellin was a natural magical force structural component that the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow, as a banana-type magical plant, could already secrete on its own. So Locke had simply developed a super plant factor that allowed it to secrete double the amount.

T-Type gibberellin could cause the body size of banana-type plants to increase, and it also had a certain allelopathic effect. Once secreted, T-Type gibberellin suppressed the growth of non-banana-type plants while promoting the growth of banana-type plants exclusively.

Using the 2x T-Type Gibberellin Super Plant Factor could compensate for the deficiency of the 3x Feather-Fall Super Plant Factor.

At the same time, the Big Leaf Maple Asymmetric Spiral Leaf Super Plant Factor was something Locke had obtained from the winged fruit of the big leaf maple tree. Using the finite element cultivation method combined with the grafting method, he grafted the partial spirituality of the big leaf maple's winged fruit with a specific spirituality of the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and had it grow within the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

The additional five million magic stones spent that month had been consumed in this step.

In this way, he could extract from the big leaf maple's winged fruit a plant factor corresponding to a special curling-leaf magical plant characteristic capable of creating vortices in magical wind.

Locke extracted it, ran some simple tests, and combined this plant factor with the other two super plant factors to form a set of super plant factors.

One hour later, all the plant factors within the phytogen sphere in Locke's hand gradually took shape and finished arranging.

Locke used the magical force field to inject his adjusted phytogen into a Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow seedling before him.

The adjusted Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow seedling had, in effect, undergone two rounds of phytogen enhancement.

The first was the sword tomb enhancement conducted by the finite element cultivation method over two months at a cost of eight million magic stones, which comprehensively enhanced its baseline and increased the secretion of all manner of natural magical force structural components.

The second was the incorporation of the three sets of super plant factors under the Asymmetric Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow Plant Factor Set, a step that had consumed seven million magic stones.

At that moment, the adjusted plant factors were added into the seedling, and Locke cast a powerful growth accelerator. But since Second Circle magical plants were involved, even a powerful growth accelerator could not shorten the plant's own development and growth by too much.

At the same time, he needed to activate the wizard formation and concentrate the magical tide from floor ten of the laboratory to accelerate the plant's growth and provide a suitable environment.

"Under the empowering of Group Two's wizard formations, as long as I continuously chant the powerful growth acceleration spell along with Emerald Spirit Breath, this magical plant should complete its growth within one month."

"At that point, I can know the result."

Locke grafted an virtual root onto the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow seedling.

"However, I could use the Lunar Cultivation Method to accelerate this process, which would shorten the original one-month wait to just a single day, without even needing Emerald Spirit Breath. Only I do not have any Zero Potion left on hand. I cannot use the Lunar Cultivation Method."

The main reason was that he had no spare Zero Potion.

Locke thought: "Then I can only spend another one million magic stones purchasing Emerald Spirit Breath. And I will need to wait another month."

Waiting just one month for results was not too bad.

Although it was somewhat inconvenient, and would mean spontaneously waiting over thirty times as long.

But the problem was he would likely also need to persuade Team Leader Cis to continuously provide the underground research institute's floor ten within the Dune Plane with an excess supply of magical energy for a full month, enough to power the hundreds of wizard formations spread across the floor.

Locke furrowed his brow. Where was he supposed to hunt down Zero Potion in the short term?

Outside of black wizards, even touching a white wizard would risk the Ethics and Morality Review Committee taking notice.

The Ethics and Morality Review Committee was not to be underestimated.

At that moment, Locke's expression suddenly became peculiar, because while chanting his spell, he sensed a strange object appearing nearby.

It was a cluster of strange dark shadow.

It stood right in front of a one-acre magical field before him.

It seemed to have come from another world. Locke reacted instantly, because he had read materials about the Dark Great World's monsters in a free magic book. Was this one of the so-called demons and specters of the Dark Great World?

That world truly was remarkable. He did not know how it had managed it, but it had tracked its way here by following his and his senior martial brother's communication thread.

Locke sensed the magic pressure of this Second Circle level demon specter, and the corner of his mouth curved.

Potion materials had not just delivered themselves to his door?

Locke looked back at the four people behind him and said, "Mason, Barrett, and Freya, all three of you help me maintain the growth acceleration spell. Douglas, you are responsible for channeling magic pressure and activating the Growth Wizard Formation."

This way he could temporarily stop casting the powerful acceleration spell without worrying about the experiment suddenly being interrupted.

This was the advantage of working in a large group's laboratory. The equipment was complete, the experiments were established, and the coordination had protocols.

Locke looked toward the demon specter not far away. It appeared to be a mass of black mist, seemingly a native of the Dark World.

It was watching him with a pair of crimson eyes.

This Dark World native had a humanoid form within the black mist.

It suddenly summoned a surge of black mist, enveloping Locke within it, twisting the space, and forming a black cube.

Then, within this dark space, the Dark World native revealed its true appearance.

It wore the garb of a divine official, its robes multicolored, with dark coffee-brown skin, but overall similar in appearance to a normal human. However, its forehead was especially wide, the distance from its eyebrows to the top of its head nearly equal to the length of its face, and across its exaggerated forehead was a long, thin line of stitches.

"I am a native of the Dark World."

"Zachary Potter. Body of a Demon Specter."

"Wizard, I have come this time to ask you a question. Tell me, what is the true name of the wizard who has intruded upon our world?"